Into Africa

In the headlong stampede by City firms to stick pins in as many countries as possible on the globe, one continent remains largely unpunctured - Africa.Some of the reasons - the notorious poverty and instability of African nations - are obvious.

However, there are also regulatory hindrances to practice, as witnessed by the Law Society's response to draft legal practice legislation in South Africa.The Society's response encouraged South Africa to open its doors to foreign lawyers, allow local lawyers to go into partnership with foreign firms, and lift the three-year limit on foreign lawyers working there.But beyond the stereotypes of impoverished Africa, there is a steady flow of work for a small number of firms, and London is one of the world exporters of legal services which feeds it.David Greene, a partner with City firm Edwin Coe, takes roughly half his annual billing from work in Africa where, among other projects, he works in various capacities for the governments of Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.He explains the range of work available for practitioners on the continent: 'One type of work is aided work, projects subsidised by the World Bank, or by European states (usually north European countries).

An example is a current project we are doing for the Department for International Development (DfID), to encourage civil and criminal justice reforms in Nigeria.'To get tenders on aided projects, Mr Greene explains that it is necessary to have lobbying capabilities within the aid organisations, or to be recommended by consultants.But the Americans are getting more involved in Africa, confirms Paul Biggs, former CMS Cameron McKenna partner who joined the London office of US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.Mr Biggs says he brought a lot of African projects with him to Cadwalader when he left Camerons, and he has since picked up a number of others, the largest being the six-year, $600 million (450 million) hydro-electric Bujagali project in Uganda, in which he is acting for AES, a US company that works on many of the continent's development projects.Mr Biggs explains that AES is typical of the large development companies that are prevalent in Africa, explaining that 'companies either have an appetite for this kind of work or they don't go near it'.He is acting on a separate power project further south on Songo Songo Island off the Tanzania mainland, and an additional $350 million power project in Ghana.Nor is power the only avenue open.

In Mozambique, Mr Biggs is acting for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company in its privatisation of Maputo docks, a scheme worth $100 million over 15 years.Spanning the distinct practice areas of aid agency work and private or public projects are funds such as the Africa Private Infrastructure Financing Facility (APIFF), a debt fund run by Standard Bank, for which Mr Biggs also works.

The fund - sponsored by DfID - is raising up to $300 million to invest in African projects.Practitioners all have their regions of greater or lesser influence.

Although South Africa is the continent's richest country, there are fewer opportunities for western firms there because of the prevalence of good local law firms.

City firms Stephenson Herwood and CMS Cameron McKenna have led the way there by forming alliances with local practices.For Mr Biggs, Zambia is currently a big market, but of troubled Zimbabwe he says: 'You are doing well if you find a Western investor in the market there.

In Africa generally the political risks are hard enough to gauge, but in Zimbabwe they are nigh on impossible.'French law firms are naturally influential in much of Francophone Africa, with UK firms doing much of the work in the former English colonies, largely as a result of the investment of UK clients, the language and the legal links - most still use a common law system, with UK company legislation as the bedrock of corporate law.But City firm Denton Wilde Sapte - which has been busy branding itself as an African expert - spans the Francophone countries through its Paris office.

Dentons' associations, announced this year, with law firms Corpus Globe in Zambia and Nkono & Co in Tanzania, give it the first foothold of a City firm in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa.

This week, Surrey firm Shadbolt & Co followed it into Tanzania.Although Geoffrey Wynne, head of trade at Dentons, says there are no immediate plans to open an office, the firm has been expanding into the Middle East over the past year.

And it seems to have been the first to see that, in the Risk game of world domination being played out for real by the City law firms over the past five years, no one had really put their armies on Africa.

Mr Wynne confirms that the strategy is to continue to associate in other countries 'where the opportunity arises'.Dentons seems to be reaping the rewards.

It is advising the Crown Agents - who are a rich source of referral work for projects - in relation to the APIFF fund and is negotiating a $300 million refinancing of Ghana's cocoa export business.

Mr Wynne says: 'We would expect to be active in a dozen or so projects in Africa at any one time.'All the lawyers agree that for any type of work a conduit local lawyer on the ground is required.

Mr Biggs says: 'Generally, there are only a couple of name firms with whom you can deal, who have the expertise on the ground, except for South Africa, where the amount of good local law firms means there are far fewer opportunities for Western firms to get involved.'Mr Greene says that Nigeria - the second richest country in Africa (after South Africa) owing to its enormous resources - is 'turning around a bit' and 'becoming much more realistic as a target for work'.

He says he has been busy on the eastern seaboard, advising on disputes for the Ugandan and Ethiopian governments, and projects in Kenya and Tanzania.Mr Greene is undaunted by Zimbabwe's current predicament - he still acts for the central bank of Zimbabwe in relation to disputes over gold and diamonds.In a continent that is still synonymous with poverty in the minds of many westerners, do lawyers involved in projects work believe they are contributing to the development of the place? Or are they viewed as greedy capitalists?Mr Biggs says: 'We are lawyers, and we all want to make some money, but we do like to give something back.

When you work on projects in Africa you can't help appreciating the real need for, say, bringing energy to the people of Uganda.'And the involvement does not stop there.

Cadwalader is this year sponsoring an annual goat derby in Uganda, as part of a big national celebration.

The firm has entered a granny goat into the competition - essentially a goat race which ends in all the goats being eaten.Mr Greene explains that working in Africa you need an appreciation of the country where you are going: 'The main cause of unrest in Africa results from changes in government - you can be doing work one day, and wake up the next to find that your client has been toppled.

You need to keep in touch with events.'But on the wider scale, Mr Greene says: 'It certainly helps to have an interest in sub-Saharan African politics, development initiatives and economics.'He says that one of difficulties of African work is getting bills paid.

'English legal services are expensive, and it can be difficult for African clients to pay sterling fees.'But he is undaunted by the more arduous aspects of the job.

'I have had to travel around with armed guards in the Democratic Republic of Congo,' he says.

'Africans are easy to do business with so long as you are sympathetic to their cultures and habits.

It's the silly things really that help you get along.'He explains, using the example of handshakes: 'In many African countries the person shaking your hand keeps your hand in theirs for several moments after the actual handshake.

It can be quite awkward, and the natural English reaction is to withdraw your hand immediately, but it's impolite.'